The Spiritual Discipline of Worship

Foster describes the Spiritual Discipline of Worship as our human response to the love God shows us.

There are different practices, approaches, and styles of worship, but worship is more than just our way of singing, praying, or praising God. It is responding to God. We can worship God in many ways. For instance, one can pray silently, with a partner, corporately, standing, sitting, flat on the ground, or in many other ways. One can sing acapela, with piano &/organ, with guitar &/worship band, inside, outside, alone, or with others. The focus of this chapter is not to prescribe the one "perfect" way of worship, but to show how our acts of worship can be offered up to God as a Spiritual Discipline and sacrifice.

We worship God's character (who He is and the traits that He has). We also worship God because of what He has done. Worship isn't (or at least shouldn't) be limited to 1-3 hours per week. Worship should be a thread throughout our days and lives that is present more than it is absent. It should take priority over non-essential activities and is the well from which our acts of service spring.

When we practice worshiping God, we become attuned to talking to Him (prayer) and worshiping Him throughout our days. We can praise Him, give thanks to Him, adore Him, even as we bring our requests before Him.

In the Bible, when people gathered to worship, (most of the time) they expected God to show up. Foster challenges us to enter our times of worship with a sense of Holy Expectancy.

We go about our day, do our tasks, and interact with people, all while listening for God and expecting Him to guide & teach us. When we do this throughout our week, we are able to walk into our designated corporate worship time (aka the church service) and expect to meet God there. Foster recommends that we go into our services early to adore God and contemplate who He is. We can pray for our worship leaders and pray for the people coming into the service. We can reflect on Christ's character, roles, and titles.

Foster considers worship a Spiritual Discipline because it involves bringing an order to our actions and lives so that we spend time in God's presence. God can and does speak to us through this Discipline. Foster outlines some of the "avenues" or methods that we can worship God.

*Be still. When our hearts and minds are churning, busy, and active, it is hard to hear God's quiet voice. By being still and listening intently, we can let the Spirit guide our actions and words. Sometimes, this looks like total silence, but other times, it looks like less noise.

*Be full of praise. We are told to offer up a sacrifice of praise. In the Book of the Psalms, the call to sing, shout, dance, rejoice, adore, and praise is a frequent message. Praise allows our emotions to enter into worship along with our minds, hearts, and bodies. We can kneel, raise our hands, clap, bow down, dance, and do so much more to worship with our bodies as well. Sometimes, we are called to worship God through praise with our bodies; other times, we use our bodies to express the spirit of adoration or humility.

*Be mindful of God's presence. Paul told believers to pray without ceasing. Those prayers can be our method of adoring, praising, and giving thanks to God. We can worship God one-on-one throughout the week and corporately in a weekly service.

*Be open to different methods and styles of worship. We can worship alone, in small groups, and in larger worship services.

*Be prepared for corporate worship services. Get ready for the corporate worship service by preparing for it the night before. We can set out our clothes and other tangible things. We can also, with the Spirit's guidance, examine ourselves and our past week, taking time to confess and repent when necessary. We can review our church's hymns and Scriptures for the service. We can go in early to church to prepare our hearts and minds for worshiping God.

*Be willing to let go of our agendas, plans, worries, and preferences. In times of worship, we not only submit to each other, but also to the Lord. We are seeking God corporately (together as the Body of Christ) and expect to see Him move in the service.

*Be dependent on God, especially in worship. God is the source of everything good and holy. When we worship Him, we are coming before Him and keeping Him as the center of the experience.

*Be thankful for distractions. If we idolize the perfect worship service, we are missing the point. Thank God for the noises, interruptions, and other distractions. Ask God to accept the ideal and the non-ideal in the worship setting, as well as in life in general.

*Be sacrificial in worship. We don't always "feel" like worshiping. We don't always like or prefer the songs or styles in corporate worship. We don't always like everyone we worship with. Worship anyway. Worship is not about us, but about praising the Holy Lord.

*Be obedient as the service ends. If we are exactly the same, service after service, we might be in danger of seeking after the thrills of worship without seeking to be made more Christ-like through each God-guided encounter. When we enter God's presence, we are changed by it. We receive instruction in following God's way more and more each service.

Worshiping God is not about my preferences or my comfort zone, but about pouring my heart, my mind, my image, and all of myself into the act of worship. It is important to keep in mind that people worship God in different ways. There is diversity in how people worship God in a service and throughout one's life. In a service, we may see people standing, kneeling, or sitting as they worship. Sometimes I must worship through boisterous singing; other times through being still. There are many ways to worship the One True God.

These are ways we can enter into God's presence, but as always, the means and methods are just that. We can go through the motions or choose to fully seek after God.

May we worship God fully as we learn to do so more each day.